


"I'll take care of you."

by Oregano_Cactus



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: (ASMR) you are banri and you are gay, Gen, M/M, juza and banri talk about their FEELINGS and get into a FIGHT, juza carries banri back to bed >:3, tasuku and tsumugi are the older shithead gays here to bother banri about his gay awakening, the director is so so tired. let her rest., they are gay. also if you want to see juza cleaning banri's wounds asmr you are in the right place, yuki and tenma are only briefly mentioned!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22640200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oregano_Cactus/pseuds/Oregano_Cactus
Summary: "“I answered your question. I get one too.” Juza shrugs nonchalantly. “Okay, here’s mine: why the fuck do you keep doing things for me?”He takes a moment to think, then answers. “You know I don’t…My old friends weren’t exactly the caring type. And I guess now that I’m in Mankai, I want to try caring for people I care about a lot more.”"Juza, upon joining Mankai Company, learns how to care for people in a way he wasn't able to do before.Specifically, he cares a lot about Banri, and shows it the best he can, whether it's dragging him to bed or cleaning him up after a fight.Banri doesn't really know how to handle it and maybe has a gay awakening.
Relationships: Hyoudou Juuza/Settsu Banri, Takatoo Tasuku/Tsukioka Tsumugi
Comments: 32
Kudos: 339





	"I'll take care of you."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy reading! I've been on a Banju kick lately, and I wrote this trying to both show Juza's character off as well as write a relationship between two characters I like a lot. 
> 
> This fic was for my best friend, god bless his heart. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

The first time Juza sees Banri, it’s during lunch. 

He just wants to sit and eat his lunch, like a normal high schooler would. He doesn’t want any trouble, he never has. 

However, if some asshole has to come up and scream in his face while he tries to relax, he can’t exactly let that slide. 

He thrashes him easily, then moves on to the next event in his day with little fanfare besides from those that follow him around out of some misguided admiration. 

A little pang of regret does strike him when he sees the other boy, bruised and curled into himself on the ground, but he can’t afford to care—caring is weakness, and he doesn’t even know him, so why should he do anything? 

— 

Juza joins Mankai Company, and he learns how to care properly for the first time. 

He joins on an impulse, driven by nothing but his love for theater and a hope that maybe he’ll find somewhere to belong, and ends up being swept into a whirlwind of activity. 

In Mankai, people care, and it’s a little scary to see sometimes. 

He knows Autumn is still working on their connections to each other, and he realizes the struggle that other troupes must have had to go through, but he gets a little bit jealous to see them all getting along well. 

Probably easily the two that fight the most are in Summer, and even they get along so well that he can’t help but get a bit jealous. Tenma and Yuki fight, but it’s not like how it happens in school—they always say sorry, even though it’s a little bit reluctant, and then Yuki drags Tenma out to some sorta shopping place with a devilish grin and they come back, hours later, laughing privately together. 

He wants that, he thinks. 

He tries his best to make connections with the others, especially since it’s supposedly important to acting. He tries to talk to the other troupe members, and asks Omi for sweets sometimes, and asks Sakyo for help with his homework, and hangs out with Taichi on top of the roof, and tries (keyword: tries) to get along with Banri. 

Izumi congratulates him on his efforts, tells him he’s a _sweet boy, really, keep on trying your best!_ and he doesn’t understand why she calls him that but he sheepishly accepts the compliment. 

Still, he wishes that he could get along a little better with Banri. He doesn’t have anything against him, to be honest, and thinks that he’s a talented if not perfectly tolerable person. But he rises to the challenge when he’s provoked, and Banri doesn’t know how to shut his mouth sometimes, and it’s all a perfect storm that leads to both of them exploding one day at the end of rehearsal and stomping off. 

_“Fix that section, the way you’re saying it isn’t working. Make it more expressive, even though that’s gotta be hard for someone like you, huh?”_ Banri sneers in his face, and Izumi sighs and claps her hands together as if to say _cut it out_. 

Juza moves back a little, chastised, but then Banri says, “ _C’mon, I thought you were a theater buff. What are you if you can’t even pull this easy-mode stuff off?”_ and Juza sees red. 

He knows he isn’t the best, and he knows that he acts too stiff sometimes, and he tries _so hard_ to fix it. He tries very very hard, and he knows that they’ve all had a very long day so tensions are naturally high, and he knows that Banri’s offering some actual helpful advice underneath that exterior of insults, but he’s so frustrated. He wants to act, but he’s already sensitive to the fact that he’s not the best and that he’s naturally unable to play some of the roles he wants to. 

So, Banri pushes his buttons, and he takes a step towards him. He doesn’t like causing trouble and he doesn’t like ignoring Izumi, but there’s only so much he can take, and he opens his mouth to say: “ _Stop it. Stop insulting me, stop insulting what I can do, stop insulting who I am. I’m trying hard, you know that, and you’re a fucking shitty leader if all you do is shit on me.”_

Banri takes a step back. 

“ _Why don’t you give it a rest, huh? Just be a fucking polite person for one day. You’re supposed to be the talented one, aren’t you? Then just stop.”_

Izumi yells from across the room, “ _Juza! Stop it! You two, stop fighting—”_

“ _Why’re you so desperate for me to get mad at you? I want to get along with people, you know, and I’m not the one who isn’t even trying here.”_

Banri takes another step back, and Juza feels the heat of anger and emotions high on his cheekbones. _“Do you really just want to completely get your ass beat in again?”_

He shouldn’t have said that, he thinks, after a hush falls over the room and he sees Banri’s eyes go glassy. “ _I—I shouldn’t—”_

Banri closes his eyes, and when he opens them again Juza can’t find a hint of emotion in them. Looking directly at Juza, Banri says, _“Director. I’m calling an end to the practice for today. Good work, everyone go home,”_ then storms off to the courtyard, steps carefully measured and fists shaking. 

He messed up, Juza thinks, and he’s made everyone scared of him again. Izumi lays a careful hand on his shoulder as she passes by, and says, “ _Juza, I know emotions were high there, and you both said some things you shouldn’t have. Now, you know what you need to go do, right?”_

He shakes his head in confusion. He wasn’t going to go beat Banri up, if that was what she was implying. 

She huffs out a strained laugh. _“Go apologize and talk it out. If anything goes wrong or if you feel like punching him, come find me, okay? I’ll be sitting in the kitchen, but I don’t want you to come fetch me unless it’s an absolute emergency. You two need to learn how to take care of each other.”_

He apologizes to her, and she shoots a thumbs up to him as she walks out. 

Opening the door to the courtyard, the first thing he notices is how cold it is. It’s an unseasonably cold night for Autumn, and he’s glad he left his jacket in the practice room so he can at least be somewhat warm in the freezing wind and the slight rain that’s starting to fall. 

He walks, hunched, and finds Banri about ten minutes later furiously attacking the drywall of their dorm. He spends a little bit building up his confidence, taps Banri on the shoulder, and Banri whirls around with red eyes to spit out: _“What the fuck do you want?”_

Juza puts his hands up. _“I wanted to say sorry, I guess.”_

Banri turns back around. “ _Whatever. I’m not mad about it. Go away.”_

“ _I shouldn’t have said some of those things. I’m sorry about them.”_

_“They don’t even matter. It’s over. I know it, you know it, you completely wrecked me that day. It’s done, so I’m not upset about it.”_

“ _Still, I’m sorry.”_ Banri still isn’t looking at him. “ _You’re not a bad leader, I don’t think. You give good advice, it’s just not very nice some of the time.”_

“ _That’s not—I’m not—”_

_“I’m sorry for beating you up that day, too. I shouldn’t have done that.”_

This gets him to look at Juza, eyes flashing again. _“Oh, so you think I’m weak, huh? Can’t fucking handle it?”_

“ _What—No, I shouldn’t have fought you because I shouldn’t have gotten that mad in the first place. I don’t really try to fight people, normally.”_

Banri deflates kinda like a balloon. _“I—Go away.”_

“ _I’m just saying sorry, you know. And maybe asking you to be nicer when you say things.”_

He’s not saying anything. 

Juza grabs Banri’s shoulder, and spins him around so they can properly face each other. “ _I—Hey, what the fuck! Fucking—Leave me alone, dipshit!”_

“ _Try a little bit, at least for Izumi’s sake if not for mine. If we get along better it’ll make her life easier,”_ Juza says, and from this distance he can see Banri’s eyes are rubbed red. 

Banri glares at him a little bit, before breaking the stare. _“...Fine.”_

“ _Okay, that’s good—”_

_“And I’m sorry.”_

Juza lets Banri’s words hang in the air, shocked for a brief moment. 

_“I’m sorry for saying those things too. You’re not a bad actor, I don’t really think that. I guess we’re all just learning here.”_

Banri’s looking to the side now, refusing to meet Juza’s gaze. _“I’m sorry for saying things I know are hurtful. I just kinda say them sometimes, but I’ll try to be nicer if that’s what you want.”_

Juza lets the rain splash around them for a bit, thinking, before he says, “ _Yeah. I think I maybe want that.”_

The night air ruffles their hair. _“I don’t hate you, you know, and I want to be friends with the people here. Maybe not now, but in the future,”_ he says. “ _We can try to be better in the future, too.”_

They stand for a long while, staring at the rain bend the leaves of the singular tree Matsukawa planted seemingly years ago. It’s broken when Banri sneezes. 

Juza looks over to see Banri shivering, arms curled around himself as he tries to keep the cold away with just the t-shirt he rehearses in lately. _“What’re you staring at, dumbass?”_ Banri glares, and Juza just takes his jacket off and drapes it over Banri’s shoulders. 

_“I don’t—I don’t want your fucking jacket, dumbass! This isn’t a fucking shoujo manga!”_ he shouts, and Juza just shrugs. 

_“If you want to freeze, be my guest. Then you’ll be sick and miss rehearsal.”_

“ _...”_ Banri looks away and clutches the jacket closer, trying to keep in some of the lingering body heat to keep himself warmer. _“...Let’s go back to our room before you freeze too, like an idiot.”_

Juza trails after him obediently, watching Banri march to their room in his jacket. It fits him kinda nicely, he thinks, and locks the door behind him as he prepares to finally, finally get to sleep. 

— 

Juza’s doing his homework in his room, and he’s mostly content with how it’s going. He’s gotten help on the parts he doesn’t understand, and Muku gave him an extra tart that had been left over after Omi’s recent rampage, and the fan whirring is slowly worming its way into his brain in a comforting way. 

He gets up to grab a glass of water, or maybe milk to go with the tart, and he’s passing through the shared living room area when he notices a shadowy figure on the far edge with the table. 

Questioning if it’s an intruder, he walks up very slowly, readying himself in case anything went wrong. 

It’s only when he’s drawn very close that he realizes it’s Banri, completely passed out on the dining room table. 

…Huh. 

It wasn’t every day that you saw someone like Banri just taking a nap in the middle of the room, he thought, and wonders what the cause might have been. 

He knows Banri was busy lately, he was hardly ever in their room, and the few times he was in there he’d been mumbling and frantically scanning through the bookshelf for…some book or other. Banri does have a role in Mankai’s current play, so it would be entirely plausible for him to be overworked or something. 

Moving to pour himself a glass of water, Juza wonders what to do with his unconcious troupe leader. Leaving him here would be kinda cruel, but it’d be hard to just drag him to their room and hope for the best. 

Maybe he could carry him like he used to carry Kumon when they were young, he thinks, and makes up his mind as he puts the glass into the dishwasher. 

Juza walks over to the table that Banri’s completely passed out on top of, and picks him up, supporting him with one arm under his legs and one at the back. It’s the easiest way, he’s discovered through his long years of caring for his younger brother, to pick someone up and safely transport them. 

Banri barely even stirs, head lolling onto Juza’s arm, and Juza picks him up with a grunt to begin walking back to their room. 

He’s about halfway there when he realizes: He can’t open the door with Banri in his arms. 

Luckily enough, he runs into their resident costume maker, who stares at him weirdly. _“...What on earth is going on here, Hyodo?”_ Yuki says, and widens his eyes even further. 

_“Lucky I ran into you. Can you walk with me a bit to my room and open the door for me? I’d do it myself, but I’ve kinda—”_ He jerks his chin at Banri, passed out. 

“ _...Sure.”_ Yuki walks him to his room, opening the door and peeking curiously inside. _“Nice design, for two teenage boys,”_ comes his evaluation, and Juza sees the boy off with a nod. 

He eases Banri onto his bed, and watches as he stirs slightly at the loss of heat. Juza watches for a bit then nods, confident that Banri won’t wake up anytime soon, and returns to his homework while their troupe leader snores in bliss. 

— 

Banri storms up to him a couple days later, red in the face. _“What the fuck is this, Hyodo?”_ comes his question, and Juza tries to focus on whatever’s being shaken in his face. 

It’s a photo of Juza carrying Banri from a couple days back, when he had passed out on the table, and he tells Banri as much. 

“ _I—So that’s why I woke up in my bed with all my clothes on!”_ Juza moves to leave, then, and Banri grabs his arm again. _“Wait, that’s not what matters here, what I’m curious is about why the **fuck**_ **__**_you decided to fucking—to fucking PRINCESS CARRY me back to our room!”_

Juza doesn’t understand the confusion here. _“It’s the best way to pick someone up and make sure they don’t wake up, you know. I’m an older brother, I should know.”_

Banri says, “ _Why the fuck didn’t you just wake me up? I can walk back to our goddamn room, idiot!”_

Juza just shrugs. _“Well, you were tired, right? And overworked? You’re in that new play we’re putting on, so I guess I thought it’d be best to not wake you up and that’s the best way not to. You gotta stay in shape so you can make us money, troupe leader,”_ he snarks, and watches Banri’s face turn an interesting shade of purple. 

“ _I—But—ARGH!”_ Banri shouts, storming off. _“Whatever! But did you really have to let Chikage take a fucking photo?”_

Shrugging again, he yells back, “ _How else was I supposed to get you back, then? Drag you?”_ and settles back into his spot on the couch, content with the tart he’d once again mooched off of Omi. National treasure, that man, he thought, and blissfully tunes out Banri’s enraged yelling with sugar. 

— 

He finally sees Banri bruised and curled up again about an year and a half later, when he’s walking home from school and takes a detour to visit a sweets shop he’d heard about. 

He’s not really paying much attention to where he’s going, and when he sees a kid about his age lying on the ground from far away, he just averts his eyes and assumes it’s another product of a fight gone wrong. 

It’s only when he approaches that he recognizes the hair and the stupid fucking jacket, now stained and dirtied, and his blood runs cold. 

Juza runs over to Banri, already running through a mental checklist of what could be wrong. 

Banri tries to sit up as he notices him approaching, and Juza pushes him back down a little too hard. _“Don’t get up.”_

 _“Why—Why the fuck are you here, Hyodo,”_ Banri drawls, speaking around blood in his mouth. “ _‘M fine. Go away.”_

Juza checks his eyes while he’s blabbering. No concussion, and he seemed mostly coherent, so luckily no head injuries. _“How the fuck did this happen?”_

Banri throws back his head (or, tries to) and laughs. _“Why? Gonna go beat them up for me? C’mon, I thought you’d be happier, seeing me all fucked up like this.”_

He shakes his head as he checks for any more serious injuries. _“Why in the hell would I be happy?”_ His heart audibly relaxes as he doesn’t notice anything too serious, and he breathes a sigh of relief. 

“ _You like, haaaate me, right? Right?”_ Banri’s starting to slur his words, and Juza can’t tell if it’s from pain or from something worse. He’s skipping the sweets shop for today, he thinks, and hoists Banri to a standing position to get him back home. 

Banri lets out a choked gasp, swallowing whatever else he was going to say, and Juza looks at him worriedly as his eyes fill with pained tears. _“Fine. ‘M fine. Keep going. I’ll fix it when we get back to dorms.”_

They start shuffling in relative silence, then Banri opens his mouth again. _“You know, it wasn’t even just one guy.”_ Juza stays silent at his side, supporting his weight and making sure he didn’t fall and eat shit again. _“I guess they must’ve hated me or something, huh.”_

They make their way down an alleyway, where a cat blinks at them judgmentally. _“They jumped me. Didn’t even give me a chance to react or like, challenged me at all.”_

Juza clenches his free fist. If there was one thing he hated, it was unfair fights. 

_“One of them had a knife, I think, and I panicked. I don’t—shouldn’t have panicked. Dunno. It was stupid.”_

_“I don’t think it’s stupid to have self-preservation instincts,”_ Juza says, and readjusts his grip. 

_“Yeah, but I’m like, supposed to be good at things right? And I don’t lose. I don’t lose so it’s stupid that I lost. I just stood there while they kicked my ass, Juza, and I don’t even know why.”_

They’re nearly to the dorms, and Juza tells Banri as such. 

_“Thanks. You know, I dunno why you’re even helping me. Just leave me there and it’ll make your life easier, you know. Round two of what you did to me last year,”_ Banri says, and then doubles over as he chokes out laughter. 

Juza waits out the coughing fit, and says, “ _Want me to carry you again?”_

Banri cracks up anew, wheezing, “ _Holy fuck, stop it, you’re going to make me crack another rib,”_ and Juza smiles a little. 

They wait a bit then move forward, stepping into their room. Juza steers Banri over to the chair as per request, then dumps him with all the ceremony of dumping a bag of rice. 

Banri winces, then reaches for the first aid kit that they keep in their room, and shuffles through its contents to find the ointment and the bandages. Juza watches from his bed, content to just watch the repetitive actions, and a silence settles over the room. 

It’s broken, as always, by Banri, who says, “ _You know it really would’ve been easier if you just left me.”_ He looks up from his leg to meet Juza’s eyes. _“You left me last year, and that was easier, so why didn’t you do it again?”_

Juza thinks for a moment. “ _Well, last year you were a stranger, and this year we’re not.”_

Banri laughs. “ _Easy as that?”_

“ _Easy as that,”_ he confirms. “ _I’m not gonna abandon my friend on the streets completely fucked up, you know.”_

They both go quiet at that, pondering. Banri speaks first. _“You consider me a friend?”_

_“Yeah. I mean, we talk, and get food together, and do stupid shit, and help each other with theater sometimes, so that’s gotta count for something, right?”_

“ _...”_ Banri says nothing, and they sit in silence again until Banri grits his teeth and hisses while attempting to clean a particularly nasty cut on his back. 

_“Want me to help?”_ Juza offers, and Banri shakes his head. _“I’m helping anyways,”_ he says as he climbs down the ladder to his bed. 

Banri looks frustrated, but shuts up as Juza fetches the hydrogen peroxide and cleans out the cuts. His fingers ghost over the bruises, careful to not aggravate the injuries further, and he feels his face heat up as he rubs the soaked cotton ball in smooth circles over another scratch. He hopes Banri doesn’t notice. 

He’s concentrating hard enough that he almost doesn’t notice when Banri whispers, _“Why are you helping me?”_

Juza responds instantly, for once. _“I’ve always wanted to take care of the people I care about.”_

_“...And I’m included in that camp?”_

_“Yeah. You and Kumon and Muku and the entire Mankai Company. Pass me that bandage.”_

Banri passes the bandage over, frowning at those words. _“So it’s just all of us?”_

_“I mean, I do care about some people more than others, as people tend to do.”_

_“Don’t get snarky with me, Hyodo.”_

_“I’m the one who’s fixing you up, I should be saying that.”_

Banri flinches back as Juza pours the cleaning agent on a particularly cut up section of his arm. _“Jesus fuck!”_

 _“Sorry, sorry. To answer your question, I guess I care more about some people and in different ways.”_ He looks at what he’s doing, then opens his mouth again. “ _Like, I care about Yuki, but I doubt I’d be sitting here at seven PM cleaning out his wounds.”_

 _“So I’m just that special, huh?”_ Banri laughs bitterly, seemingly resigned to something. _“Guess I’m okay with being friends.”_

Juza tries to figure out how Banri’s thinking, but he’s admittedly a little more focused on trying to make sure Banri doesn’t die of gangrene at age 17 and it’s a little bit hard to focus when Banri’s essentially sitting on top of him so that he can bandage around his back. 

He ties off the last bandage, then eases Banri off of him, wiping his hands off on his jeans. _“There. Now don’t do stupid shit and it should be fine.”_

Banri perches on the chair, looking exhausted. “ _Thanks, Hyodo.”_

_“Don’t mention it.”_

Banri pauses, opening and closing his mouth a couple times, before saying, “ _I—Hey, Hyodo, I wanted to say—”_

For some reason, Banri’s really red. He walks up to him, putting his hand on his forehead to check for a fever like he used to do when he was a kid, and Banri sputters and flushes even brighter. _“What—”_

_“Oh good, you don’t have a fever.”_

_“I—I could’ve told you that!”_

_“Sure,”_ Juza says, and walks out of the room to a thrown pillow and Banri screaming again. 

— 

Sometimes he sees Tsumugi and Tasuku, the Winter troupe resident power couple, relentlessly teasing Banri and he wonders what for. 

Like now. 

Juza walks into the living room to get some lunch, and he sees Banri shouting at the two, face bright red and completely and totally pissed off. 

Tsumugi giggles, then nudges Tasuku. “ _Taachan, isn’t it sweet? What if we were like that, hm?”_

Tasuku, looking marginally more exhausted, elbows back. “ _Stop harassing the poor boy, you know how teenage boys are.”_

_“Stupid?”_

_“Mhm.”_ This sends Tsumugi into another fit of laughter, and Tasuku looks up to notice Juza. “ _Oh, Hyodo. Care to join us for lunch? We’re waiting on pizza delivery because we’re all lazy and too bored to cook.”_

Banri notices Juza walking up to them and slams his mouth shut instantly, spinning around so fast that Juza thinks he’s about to fly off into the atmosphere. “ _Yeah, sure,”_ Juza says, and takes a seat next to Banri. 

Tsumugi’s still laughing behind his hand, but manages to pull himself together enough to get up and accept the pizza from the delivery man. _“Eat well!”_ He nods, then eats his meal, content enough to hear the conversation washing over him and contributing every now and then. 

Banri barely says anything, which is weird, and the one time that he tries to start a conversation they naturally carry on for a bit before Banri suddenly explodes and says, “ _I seriously can’t take you two anymore!”_ and stomps off. 

Juza looks at the two still left, who are seemingly on the verge of laughter. _“Did you two do anything?”_

 _“Nope, nada, not us,”_ Tsumugi chokes out, and buries his face in Tasuku’s shoulder. _“Eat your pizza, Juza.”_

— 

He’s lying in bed when he thinks of what happened at lunch again, and he feels a little stupid but whispers anyways: “ _Banri.”_

 _“Banri.”_ No response. “ _Banri Settsu.”_

Third time’s the charm, he thinks as Banri groans and sits up in bed. “ _What the fuck do you want, Hyodo.”_

_“Why were you so freaked out during lunch?”_

_“...”_ He looks over to see Banri illuminated by the moonlight, and his throat suddenly goes dry. It’s a pretty effect. 

Banri opens and closes his mouth a couple times, then sighs. _“I got…embarrassed. I guess.”_

“ _About what?”_ He doesn’t think he’d have dared to ask this question if it were the day, but it was the middle of the night and time didn’t feel real anymore. 

_“I answered your question. I get one too.”_ Juza shrugs nonchalantly. “ _Okay, here’s mine: why the fuck do you keep doing things for me?”_

He takes a moment to think, then answers. “ _You know I don’t…My old friends weren’t exactly the caring type. And I guess now that I’m in Mankai, I want to try caring for people I care about a lot more.”_

The sound of a whistle echoes around the room. _“Deep,”_ Banri compliments, and Juza gives a quick grin. 

“ _My turn.”_

_“Whatever.”_

_“Tell me why you care so much about me caring.”_

There’s silence for a second, and Juza worries he’s gone too far again, until he looks over and sees Banri rake a hand through his hair out of frustration. _“I just bother you all the time and fight, why the fuck would you care at all? It’s illogical.”_ His voice lowers to a whisper better befitting the night. _“I don’t know why I care about you, either. I’ve already beat you, right?”_ It sounds more like he’s talking to himself at this point. 

“ _I thought friends were supposed to care about each other?”_ Juza’s being too bold, he thinks, but there’s a kind of detachedness floating in the air that removes any barrier they normally have up during the day. The fan whirrs gently in the background. 

The silence goes on for a bit too long this time, and Juza looks over again to see Banri with his fists clenched, seemingly warring with himself over something. 

Another couple seconds passes, and Banri snaps his eyes open as if he’s made a decision. He opens his mouth, and says, “ _What if I said I didn’t want you as just a friend?”_ , and Juza can see his hands trembling in the dim light. 

Juza says, “ _What do you mean?”,_ confused, and Banri makes a noise of frustration. 

“ _Do I have to spell it out for you? God, Hyodo, you’re so fucking stupid sometimes,”_ Banri huffs, and Juza just tilts his head to one side. “ _God! Fuck. Fuck my life.”_

He sits, quietly, as Banri smooths out his bedspread with shaking hands and says, “ _I’m saying that I like you, dumbass,”_ carefully pronouncing every word. Silence hangs in the air for a moment, before Banri (lightly) punches the wall and says, “ _FUCK! Fuck. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Ignore that and pretend it didn’t happen.”_ He rambles on and on for a minute, blathering, before Juza clears his throat and he instantly falls silent. 

_“I wasn’t lying when I said I care for some people more than others, and you’re on that list.”_ Banri’s twisting his bedsheets in his hand now. _“You’re my troupe leader, after all, and even though you’re too harsh with your words on occasion I know you’re trying to help.”_

“ _What does that mean, Hyodo?”_ Banri whispers. 

“ _But you know, I don’t feel the same way I do hanging out with Muku or Kumon as I do with you, I don’t think. I care about them both, they’re both family to me, but I don’t think it’s the same with you.”_ He speaks slowly and measures his words carefully, trying to convey his exact thoughts. “ _I don’t just carry you to bed for the hell of it, you know. I do it because I like doing it.”_

They both let the fan’s whirring fill the air. 

“ _I admire a lot of things about you. I admire your leadership and your acting talent and how you care a lot, even if you say you don’t. I admire your perseverance and determination and how you all want us to succeed.”_

Banri laughs quietly. _“What’s that supposed to mean?”_

“ _It means that I have fun being near you, and I like to hang out with you, and I like to talk to you and stand on stage with you.”_

“ _That’s all of Autumn troupe too, y’know.”_

It’s Juza’s turn to laugh quietly. _“I guess we both have to spell things out, huh?”_

_“Huh?”_

_“I like you too, Banri.”_

Cicadas are chirping outside, and the night air blows around their room. 

He looks over and Banri’s gone completely red, as far as he can tell from the weak light coming through their window. He notices him looking, then surges towards him to throw a weak punch, shouting, “ _What are you looking at, asshole?”_. 

Juza laughs, dodging the punch easily. _“At someone who I like, I guess.”_

Banri falls back down to his bed, throwing a hand over his eyes. “ _So…What are we, then?”_

_“Dating, if you’d want to.”_

_“Stop being so brazen!”_ Banri yells, then sighs. “ _But…I do want that. Maybe.”_

_“So then I’ll declare it. You get to be on the top of my ‘people who I care about’ list, aren’t you happy?”_

_“Stop making fun of me for that! Fucking asshole, I swear to god I’ll beat your head in—”_

Juza dodges the punch again, suddenly intensely happy as the cicadas continue to cry out. _“Scrappy little shithead.”_

_“Motherfucker.”_

_“Asshole.”_

Banri doesn’t respond to the last insult, instead moving with a wicked grin to lean over the divider between their beds. 

Juza tastes blood as Banri kisses him, rough and messy and fun in all the ways that he’d come to expect of them. 

He kisses back, feeling Banri smirk against his lips and feeling supremely, blazingly happy in the cool stillness of the night. 

He cares a lot, he thinks, for this stupid hot-headed boy who can’t keep his mouth shut. 

“ _I care for you a lot too, asshole,”_ Banri grins as they pull apart, and Juza realizes he said the last part out loud. _“Guess we’re just two peas in a fucked up pod.”_

Juza grins back. “ _Mr. Top-Of-The-List,”_ he retorts, and Banri’s resulting anger and Juza’s laughter sail out the window, carrying with them all the honesty and teasing and raw emotion of two boys in love. 

— 

Elsewhere, Tasuku and Tsumugi laugh at the sound coming from the Autumn dorms, and Tsumugi pokes Tasuku. “ _Young love, hm?”_

Tasuku elbows back. “ _Truly, young love.”_

And from far, far away, in her own room, a long-suffering peacemaking director breathes a sigh of relief in her sleep and turns over, finally able to rest. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked reading the fic! 
> 
> If you enjoyed, please please please leave a comment or kudos (especially comments :P)! They're what keep me writing, and it makes my day each time I get one! (No joke, I actually like. scream and get super super excited over seeing one :D) 
> 
> Some extra fun facts:   
> \- Juza has a really unique character voice that made him interesting to write, but I hope I pulled it off well enough!  
> \- Tsumugi is a certified shithead and I wrote him as such. Tasuku's being the kinder one to Banri but he's also equally cackling.   
> \- My friend thought it was immensely hilarious that Banri just punched walls. I agree that it's also fucking hilarious, but doesn't it seem like he would?   
> \- I wrote this late, late, late at night. The sun was legitimately rising when I finished, so please excuse any stupid little mistakes :P   
> \- I wanted more Muku, but didn't quite have a good place to fit him, so he goes here. We love you Muku! 
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading!!! And please leave a comment if you enjoyed :D


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